The present invention is directed to spinnerets for spinning textile and industrial synthetic fibers, and is particularly directed to a spinneret orifice having a novel cross-section in the plane of a spinneret face.
Traditional round cross-section polyester staple fibers, while offering many processing advantages, do not provide adequate cover and aesthetics for many textile applications.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide in the plane of a spinneret face a spinneret orifice of novel cross-section through which a fiber having improved cover, acceptable glitter, and improved aesthetics (soft and cotton-like) may be spun, such as a polyester staple fiber.
The spinneret orifice cross-section, disclosed by this invention and from which the fiber is melt extruded, is believed to be novel and different from any known prior art. The closest disclosure of a spinneret orifice formed of off-set parallelograms was found in FIG. 13 of the United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,102,051 (complete specification published Feb. 7, 1968); also see corresponding French Pat. No. 1,422,478 granted Nov. 15, 1965. Both patents were based on a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 337,661, filed Jan. 14, 1964, in the name of Gilbert Shaw (apparently no U.S. patent ever issued). The Shaw United Kingdom patent discloses a band or web of interconnected continuous filaments which become separated into individual filaments when a separating force is applied. In FIG. 13, the spinneret orifice appears to comprise three off-set parallelograms. Each parallelogram, however, is connected by a very thin slot so that the band of material extruded from one of the parallelograms may be readily separated from its adjacent neighbor. The side wall, therefore, of one parallelogram is not in alignment with or in the same plane as the side wall of the adjacent parallelogram, as is the case in the present invention. The fiber cross-section shown in FIG. 14 represents the fiber that has been extruded from the spinneret orifice shown in FIG. 13. The resulting fiber cross-section is entirely different from that disclosed in this invention.